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MALAYSIAN DIPLOMATS: OUR STORIES

was representing the Ambassador at the Emperor’s Spring Festival where we
had to board a chartered train with security both inside and all along the
train route. Such was the extent of protection accorded to us as we were the
guests of the Emperor. It was indeed an honour as well as a great experience
and exposure to get a precious chance to mingle among the elites and high-
ranking Japanese civil servants and for me the ambassadors too. It also helped
in boosting my conf dence level.

I had the chance to see the whole of Japan, except for Hokkaido, both during
my student days pursuing the Japanese language course and as a diplomat
on of cial and private trips. I left Tokyo in 1986 and returned in 2003 for
an ASEAN-related meeting. God willing, I hope to revisit Japan to cover
Hokkaido one day.

As the LEP was taking shape then, I witnessed many visits from various
Malaysian agencies. Among the royalties who often visited Tokyo was
His Royal Highness Sultan Iskandar of Johor. T e then Prime Minister
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad also made frequent visits. In one of his visit,
Tun Mahathir wanted to visit a factory which converted coconut shells
into beautiful artefacts such as bowls and ladles. T e owner of the factory
called to say that it was a small factory located in a remote area and the
dust from the factory production made it an unconducive environment. Tun
Mahathir, however, insisted on going and I accompanied him to the factory.
On our way back, Tun Mahathir explained why he had insisted on visiting
the factory – to see things f rst hand to enable him to direct the of cials
concerned to go and study how they did it. T at was Tun Mahathir, the
hands-on Prime Minister.

Dealing with the Japanese was not an easy task though. I will share a tough
incident with a private Japanese TV station, which I had to convince to
achieve Malaysia’s objective.

Fuji TV Station was famous for its epic f lming of unique places or events
around the world through a programme called Naruhodo! T e World.
Naruhodo in Japanese means, “I understand” or “I see”. Hence, the
programme was angled based on how the reporter or producer sees it.

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